Farmworker needs get scrutiny

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's Legislature has launched what might be the first comprehensive investigation into conditions that migrant laborers face on the job and in their homes.

At numbers that could top 150,000, seasonal farmworkers are a vital link in Florida's agriculture industry, especially for the harvesting of citrus, winter vegetables and ornamental plants.

But they are often faced with housing shortages, no health insurance for their children, no unemployment protection, poor wages and substandard housing.

"Farmer workers have been killed because they had unsafe transportation. We have serious concerns over pesticide exposure and other reports of abuses of existing regulations," said Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven, a citrus grower chairing the Legislative Commission on Migrant and Seasonal Labor. "It's appropriate the Legislature look into this, understand what is happening and find out what we can do to correct the problems."

Farm-labor groups are hoping the six-member commission, which includes three appointees from the Senate and three from the House -- including Rep. John Quinones, R-Kissimmee -- will make trips into Florida's fields.

For decades, seasonal workers have traveled to the state Capitol during the legislative session to appeal for more protections, including being told what kind of pesticides are being sprayed in the fields, but have won little protection.

This spring, the Legislature failed to pass a bill requiring seat belts in all vans driving workers to the fields, even though transportation-related accidents were the leading cause of death for migrant workers in Florida in 2004. The Legislature also cut a $208 million housing bill that would have helped migrants who lost their homes in the 2004 hurricanes.

The commission was established in legislation that was passed nearly a decade ago but never appointed. But in recent years, farmworker groups have put increasing pressure on state lawmakers to address what they say are often substandard housing and work conditions.

Issues the commission is expected to address include: helping the children of migrant workers qualify for state health insurance; allowing migrants to pay in-state tuition for any child attending to a state community college or university; strengthening pesticide-notification laws; better housing and wages; and reforming the crew-leader system.

"I've been involved with this for 30 years and we have not made a great deal of progress," said Rob Williams, an attorney with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Tallahassee. "But there may be an opening here to do something different, to change the dynamic, put aside some of the old controversies and move ahead in a new way."